Fri.’s Devo- Justification Without Sanctification

Read Rev. 3:2-3 Is. 11:2 gives us the seven spirits of God: 1. the spirit of God 2. the spirit of wisdom 3. the spirit of understanding 4. the spirit of counsel 5. the spirit of might 6. the spirit of knowledge 7. the spirit of the fear of the Lord The messenger, Martin Luther, operated in all these attributes of God. These are the lights in the menorah with the spirit of God being the center light. Even so, the people were for the most part, spiritually dead. He warned them to stay awake and not let their faith die. This was the age of “justification”, but that is where they stopped. They never grew into “sanctification”. Their works were found not perfect which means unfulfilled. Martin Luther preached the sovereignty of God, election, and grace. He separated the church from the ecclesiastical hierarchy. He tore down the idols, casts out the confessions to the priests, and denounced the pope. These were all good things, but wrong must be replaced with right, and if you are going to bind a bad spirit, you must loose a good spirit, etc. Luther brought down the bad which eventually was replaced with worse spirits. The people went back into slavery under the name Lutherans. When we try to organize the Holy Spirit, we box him right out. Our goal is to get back to the power and spirit that was given on the day of Pentecost. Verse 3 tells us to remember what God gave us at the beginning of our walk with Him and repent of what we have added to it that is not Him. If not, we will be of the five foolish virgins that had oil, but theirs ran out without them realizing it. Lord, draw us back to our roots with You and let us not organize you out of our lives. Sanctify our hearts.